Two group presentations down and two more to go! It is such a relief to be finishing up with a lot of my work here in Copenhagen. So, I thought to myself: "What would be a good way to unwind a little from all of this school work?" So, I decided to take a quick cruise to Oslo, Norway. I had such a blast and it was a perfect escape from work for the weekend.

The DFDS Cruise Line departs from downtown Copenhagen and you can take short cruises to Oslo, London, or other really cool places. I decided that I wanted to conquer the remainder of Scandinavia; living in Copenhagen, visiting family in Stockholm, and cruising to Oslo for the weekend. Depending on who you talk to, they may include Finland as part of Scandinavia, but as for now I'll just pretend it isn't and still believe that I was able to visit all of Scandinavia. I had never been on a cruise before and I was extremely impressed with how much entertainment they can pack onto one boat! The King of Scandinavia, as our ship was appropriately named, included 2 movie theaters, 4 restaurants, 2 night clubs, swimming pools/spa, a play area for children, observation deck, and countless cabins... just to name a few attractions. After school on Friday, Liz and I took the train to Nordhavn (just 2 S-Train stops from school) to jump on the ship. It traveled overnight and we arrived in Oslo at 9:30 AM.

We had pretty much all day to explore Oslo and see some of the what the city had to offer. One of my favorite stops was The Nobel Peace Prize Museum. The Peace Prize is given out in Oslo each year and the other Nobel Prizes are given out in Stockholm. I have been lucky enough to see both places. We also got to see the Royal Palace, Akershus Fortress, City Hall, and much more. It was a lot for only a few hours in the city. We ended our whirlwind tour at Akershus Castle & Fortress which was near the spot we needed to re-board the ship. At this time, dusk was just approaching and we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets that I have seen in my entire life. I took multiple pictures of it from every angle because it was hard to believe I was actually seeing it with my own two eyes!

Back on board we took advantage of all there was to do! Also, I took a little nap. Traveling can be exhausting! For my first cruise, I definitely decided it was a success and I will probably do it again. I was pretty proud of myself for taking a cruise and not getting sick. In the past, I had been on much smaller boats and after hours of rocking I succumbed to sea sickness, so that was a concern of mine before this cruise. I took some sea-sickness pills before departing and all was well! (This picture is a little bit blurry, but I had to include it. I am jumping in the air on the deck of the ship! I thought it looked pretty sweet.)

Also, I am getting excited to return to SLU again! I just found out via email that I will be living in Whitman next semester. I am going to be a Community Assistant again. I will actually be living down the hall from where I did last year. Whitman is one of my favorite dorms and I am stoked that I get to lived there again. Also, I got all the classes I wanted allowing me to continue my Chemistry major and finish up on a Global Studies minor. Also, I was excited to get a class in the NCAT for next semester!

So, there is officially less than one month remaining in my semester abroad and I am trying to make the most of it. The next 25 days will be filled with activities, friends visiting, tourist attractions, holiday celebrations, papers, presentations and plane rides! Stay tuned as my journey continues to inch towards its conclusion.